A six-member medical panel appointed by India’s Finance Commission has called for government steps to enhance educational infrastructure and ensure that every medical graduate has the option to pursue postgraduate medical education by 2025.
The High Level Group on the Health Sector, in a report submitted to the Finance Commission, has underscored concerns about India’s large shortage of medical specialists and called for multiple steps to expand PG education.
It said bodies regulating medical education should restore PG diplomas in areas such as anaesthesia, gynaecology and obstetrics, orthopaedics, ophthalmology, paediatrics and family medicine.
At present, undergraduate medical colleges across the country collectively offer about 70,000 MBBS seats but only around 45,000 seats are available for the PG education for MD, MS or DNB.
